by Megan Noelle
“So, was that who I thought it was?” Corey’s tone was clipped and I sighed; wishing we didn’t have to discuss this tonight.
“Yeah, it was Oliver. My Grandmother invited him, not me.”
“Did you know she invited him?”
“Not until he showed up and told me.” I glanced up at Corey’s face and saw that even though he was trying to keep his cool—this really bothered him. There was only one more bite of cake left, I finished it off and set the plate on the table. After a long drink from my beer, I crawled astride Corey’s lap and placed my hands on his nicely sculpted chest.
“What’s wrong?”
His hand reached up and brushed aside a strand of my hair away, before cupping my face. It wasn’t difficult to tell he was debating whether or not to confide in me, with a sigh he had made up his mind.
“I’m trying so hard not to be bothered by that guy, but it’s a lot easier said than done.” “Do you just not like Ollie?” I asked, trying further to understand. Corey thought for a second and shook his head. He sat up so our faces were just inches apart.
“I don’t like seeing another guy’s arms around you, Dani. I’m very well aware of what we are and what we aren’t. That doesn’t change the gut feeling I have to strike out at guys like Oliver or hell—the other dozens of guys tonight that had you in their sights. It’s probably ridiculous, but there it is.” His face fell and I realized how much I hated seeing him this way—in complete agony over me.
Corey was doing this the exact way I wanted but was also going against everything he wanted. I loved being near him and in all aspects he was the one I wanted to spend my day with. The one thing he wanted more than anything—was the one thing I couldn’t give him. Whether it was because of my fear about Corey changing his mind, or because of all I’ve been through—I just couldn’t do it.
I couldn’t force it. I wasn’t ready. At least not yet.
That didn’t change the fact that I hated seeing him brokenhearted, especially when I was the one causing that pain. My arms wrapped around his neck, holding him to me.
“I’m sorry I’m so screwed up, but if it means anything Corey—you’re the only one I wanted to be with tonight. Hell, you’re the only one I want to be near most nights. I just can’t give you what you want.” His forehead fell against mine with a sigh.
“I’m not trying to pressure you into anything, Dani. You’ve shared your past with me and I understand your hesitation. No matter what though, I need you to know I’m not going anywhere.” His sapphire eyes locked with mine and if I had any doubts before—they were slowly dwindling away.
I saw and felt the way he did. He didn’t want to hurt me just as much as I didn’t want to hurt him. My lips pressed against his forehead.
“I know you’re not and I’m trying, I really am. If it makes you feel any better, my hesitations aren’t because of you. They’re because of me.”
His chest rumbled mine with a single laugh. “I can’t tell if that’s better or not—at least if it was because of me, I could make it better.”
I took his face in mine and smiled. “You deserve so much better than me, Corey. Someday you’ll see that and thank me for being a hot mess.” He smiled but it didn’t touch his eyes. His hands moved to my face and pulled my lips down to his.
Our conversation didn’t make him happy but he understood it. That was all I asked for. When I returned to Serenity Cove, I hadn’t intended to stay around long enough to fall for someone. Now, I have two guys pulling at me for more. Most people would be ecstatic in this situation but all I felt was a sinking feeling deep in my stomach. What would happen when Corey realized I’m not the girl he thinks I am? After countless failed relationships one can’t simply believe it was the other person that screwed it up.
I was the reason things never worked out in the past and every relationship ended with a bang. There was always some sort of verbal sparring match that left me completely depleted for weeks after. My heart always craved to hear from them again but never once did they call me, or me them. With Corey—he is by far the best thing I’ve had in my life in so long. I wasn’t ready to risk losing him, the way I lost the others.
Corey promised he wasn’t going anywhere, but how could I believe that when the rest said the same thing? The fact of the matter was—I needed him. The scary thing was, he needed me too, but nothing about that was going to give me happily ever after.
I was selfish. I should let Corey go and move on with his life. Find another that could give him what I couldn’t but I wanted him near me. I wanted to have him by my side as much as possible, even if that meant it could tear me apart later.
I felt my eyes droop closed as I snuggled closer into his side. Before I lost myself to dreamland, I heard Corey whisper something. I couldn’t be sure of what he said and I had no energy to respond, but the words swam around in my mind.
“I’ll wait for you, Danielle.”
* * * *
When my eyelids pried themselves open the next morning, my mouth was dry and my body was warm—very warm. I looked at the predicament I was in, Corey wrapped around me with his head resting peacefully on the pillow. It was very rare I had a moment of him asleep like this. Typically when we had our sleepovers, Corey was up first. I never had time to admire the view before I woke him up.
A small tug pulled at my heart strings while my eyes gazed at his beautiful face while I had a moment to see all his boyish charm. His jaw wasn’t tensed, he wasn’t doing anything to lure me in—this was Corey. He moved slightly and his arm tightened around my waist. The lines of his face softened as his slow breathing filled the room. I could no longer keep to myself; every part of me fought the urge to touch him.
My arm wriggled free of his grasp and my fingers very lightly traced the length of his face. Corey’s full wet lips parted and a sigh blew past. I smiled at the thought that my touch was the reason for his calm. Corey was crazy about me—he saw me and saw his future. The way his deep blue peaceful eyes held mine, told me everything I needed to know.
When I saw him I saw a protector, a person to stand by my side, to laugh with and most importantly—I saw my best friend. Since meeting Corey, I felt a connection with him. I am drawn to him in a way I have never before felt for another; just being next to him I knew he was going to watch over me, comfort me and keep me safe. Truthfully, more than anything I longed for things to be different.
I leaned down and gently pressed my lips against his forehead; lingering for a few beats, before pulling back. When I did, his sleepy blue eyes opened, a smile touched his lips.
“What are you doing, baby?” His soft voice was like velvet this morning, ringing beautifully in my ears.
“Just looking at you…you’re quite adorable when you sleep.”
“Adorable?” He asked, rolling his eyes as dramatically as possible in his half-asleep state.
“What’s wrong with adorable?”
“The sexiest, strongest, and beautiful woman I have ever met just called me adorable.” The word sounded like poison coming out of his mouth, even when said playfully. “What’s next, are you going to tell me you think of me as your little brother, a great friend? Come on Sweets, I’ve been awake for 45 seconds, what other ways can you kill my waning ego?”
I laughed and shook my head. “Technically, you’d be my older brother. Besides, you are a great friend Corey.” I looked him straight in the eye, “You’re my best friend.” He smiled and pressed his soft lips to mine in a gentle kiss. In a moment he shifted, so I was on my back and he was carefully hovered over me.
“You know what I was thinking?” My fingers traced the lines of a tattoo along his bicep.
“What were you thinking, pretty girl?” I made an effort to look around the room while I was still underneath him.
“This room looks very dull—I want to paint it.”
“You want to paint your room?” This wasn’t what he expected me to say, but I nodded with a smile.
“Are
you going to hire someone to paint it?”
I scoffed at him. “I am a very independent woman. Certainly, I can paint a room of my house without having to pay someone to do it.” His lips quirked up in amusement, but he played along.
“I have all the faith in the world in you. So what color are you going to paint this?” I let my eyes travel once more. “Maybe deep purple or turquoise? Something fun.”
“Those are pretty good choices. Might I suggest the turquoise, it’d look great in here with all the stuff you have already.”
“Are you just saying that because you don’t want to sleep in a dark purple room when you stay over?” He laughed aloud and shook his head.
“If you’re in here, it doesn’t matter what color room I’m staying in.” My hands laced behind his neck holding him close.
“Gee, you’re such a great friend.” While I meant the words, it was still fun to watch him roll his eyes again. His mouth took me by surprise as it reached down and nipped at my chin. A mock gasp of shock made him laugh against my skin. The soft vibrations hit my heart—oh how I loved just being around him.
“Careful what you say there, Sweets. I just might refuse to help; if you ever get up the courage up to ask me, that is.”
“What makes you think I was going to ask for your help at all?” He readjusted his body so his chin rested against his hands on my stomach.
“Call it a hunch.” I thought for a minute. Painting always seemed like such a great idea—until you started. Then you looked around the room—at how damn much there was to do—you can’t help but sigh and wonder—why the hell didn’t I just pay someone to do this? While I sure as shit didn’t want Corey to do the whole room by himself— that would just be cruel—I wanted his help. Not to mention, I could see Corey being a great motivator to kick my butt into gear and get this done.
“Okay, would you help me paint?”
“Yes, I’ll help you.” My excitement bubbled over, and Corey laughed.
“Well, when do you have time?”
He shrugged his shoulder the best he could in the position he laid in. “I’m off today.” I hardly believed Corey was ever “off,” as a business owner I knew there was lots to be done. Always. To me that meant he either worked extra hard the last couple of days and he was caught up with everything. Or he intended to do more work than usual on Monday.
“But you don’t want to spend your one day off painting.” It wasn’t a question.
“I’d love to help you.” “Are you sure?” Now I felt guilty. Surely he had other friends that wanted to see him too. Corey was too incredible to have no one wanting his time. How he managed to be with me whenever I needed—made me feel bad. It was wrong of me to monopolize his time—even if it was what I wanted most.
“Positive. We can get up, move the stuff out of your room, grab some breakfast then pick up the paint supplies.”
“Sounds great to me.”
“Good, but first…” His eyes locked with mine and the look he sent shot heat instantly to my sex.
“I like your thinking.” With that we stopped using our words and began using our bodies to communicate. Quite a delicious method, if I do say so myself.
News
A few hours later, we were back to my house. The tarp was laid along my bedroom floor and the taping was all done. We made a pit stop at Corey’s house for a pair of his grungy jeans, that he used when working on his bike and an equally grungy t-shirt. At my house I found a pair of ratty gray sweatpants and one of my old concert tees that had countless little stains on it from use over the years. I threw my hair into a bun on the top of my head, found my pink bandanna, and fashioned it into a headband in my hair to keep pieces from falling into my face.
For the first 45 minutes we seemed to be making actual progress. Only a few times we were distracted in a minor paint battle, leaving each of us with splotches of turquoise paint all over our clothes. The most recent spat left Corey with a line of paint that traveled down the side of his face to his neck.
As much as I attempted it I could not stop laughing. I tried thinking very depressing thoughts, biting my lip, breathing in and out—nothing was working. I was Uncle Alfred in Mary Poppins, unable to come down from the ceiling. Corey was now playing the role of Mary Poppins—as he continued to eye down my ridiculous laughter— disapprovingly.
“You about done, Danielle?” Corey tried his best to sound angry, but I could tell he was enjoying it. Of course, he wouldn’t admit it.
“Mhmm.” I muttered out, since every time I opened my mouth to talk—a deep belly laugh came out. The house phone rang and when I bent over to set my paint brush down—Corey pounced. Taking his roller brush he ran it over the ass of my pants. I squealed, my eyes shot as wide open as they could go
“I couldn’t believe you just did that!”
“Believe it baby; now go answer your phone.” When I ran down the hall to grab the phone I could still hear him chuckling.
“Hello?” I breathed into the phone, as it was on its last ring.
“Dani!”
“Hey Gabs! How are you?”
“Good! Miss you, like always! What are you up to?”
“I’m painting my bedroom with Corey.” Gabby made some obnoxious purring noises ,that made me roll my eyes. “Like rolling around together on the floor covered in paint?”
“Not quite.” She laughed, I couldn’t help but smile.
“Well, I have some stuff to talk to you about.”
“Mind if I put you on speaker so I can go back in the room?”
“No problemo, chica!” Corey was back to work painting the walls. I flopped down on the tarp so my now, very wet butt didn’t stain the carpet. I told Corey it was Gabby on the phone and he gave a knowing nod.
“Okay, you’re on speaker now.”
“Hi Corey!” She sang into the phone making me smile.
“Hey Gabby.”
“So you guys are painting? What color?”
“Well, technically Corey is painting, but it’s a really pretty shade of turquoise.”
“Oh how fun! I wish I had someone around to paint my place for me.”
“Oh Gabriella, that’s no problem for you I’m sure. You have countless guys swooning over you. Give one of them a call.” She laughed.
“Action has been a little slow lately, besides the only guys contacting me lately have been for you.”
“For me?” My eyes darted up to Corey’s back. The muscles in his shoulders tensed but he continued what he was doing.
“Oh yes darling, you are very missed back here.”
“Who has been contacting you for me?” I didn’t bother hiding the disdain in my voice.
“The usual guys that we see when we go out bar hopping.” Okay—time to change the subject.
“You said you had something to talk to me about?”
“Oh yes, Erik has also been asking about you.” Erik was my boss—well used to be my boss, for the magazine I left behind.
“What does he want?” My eyes remained fixated on Corey, as he continued to work paint onto the walls. As he made his arms stretch and tense with his every movement I became a little distracted. Even with his shirt on, I could see the muscles in his back and shoulders moving in a way that made my insides clench. God, this man was something else.
“Well, Erik’s been thinking of expanding the company lately. So we wouldn’t just be a small magazine only hitting the tri-state area. I’m not sure when this idea started, but he’s been obsessing about it ever since.”
“That could be great for you guys.”
“Yeah, only problem is, it would be much more work once the idea is launched. More importantly, we lost our best asset—so that makes it much worse.”
“Best asset?” I tried to think of all the people in the office—all were wonderful. That’s what had made the magazine work so well and catch on so fast.
“You—dummy!” Gabby demanded; Corey’s fluid strokes stopped. I didn’t have to see his fa
ce to know he understood what she was getting at.
“Oh.” I responded lamely.
“Erik has been breathing down my neck to talk to you, Danielle.”
“Why?” Gabby’s frustration was rising. This wasn’t the conversation I expected and I certainly didn’t want to have this talk in front of Corey.
“Danielle, you are the best at what you do.”
“There has to be someone else in New York that knows what they’re doing. It shouldn’t be an issue.” I desperately needed to change the topic.
“We need you! I mean you just went up there to help your Grandmother. Right? Well, now you can come home and help us!”
“What if her Grandma still needs her?” Corey’s voice was cold, as he turned away from the wall. He dropped the roller into the paint tray and crouched down in front of me and picked up the phone. Gabby was silent—probably trying to recover from Corey’s outburst, the same way I was.
“How much longer does she need Dani?” Gabby plastered on the very convincing, persuasive tone she used when she was ready for a battle.
“Violet is an extremely capable woman and has run the Inn on her own for many years. Now she wants to take all her hard earned money and enjoy her life with her husband. Violet wasn’t looking for someone to hang out for a couple months then split at the first chance.” Corey’s hardened tone wasn’t lost on me.
“Dani can still return there after a few months goes by and the expansion has settled. It’s the first 6 months to a year that are the most crucial when starting something new.”
“A year? Do you have any idea what that will do to the Inn without the proper management?” He shot back.
I stared at Corey; my eyes darting from him to the phone. Are they seriously fighting about whether I was going to go or stay?
“Whoa, whoa you two! Chill out! I literally haven’t even had time to digest what all is being said, and you guys are coming out, guns a-blazing.”
“Sorry, babe.” Corey rubbed his hand on my thigh. The gesture was sweet but I saw the tension around his eyes and clenched jaw; he was trying to calm down. It wasn’t until this moment, that I realized how much my family’s Inn meant to him. The relationship he has with my Gram must be a lot more important than I ever imagined.